Greece seeks to win Germany's respect at Euro 2012

By GRAHAM DUNBAR | June 22, 2012 | 9:11 AM EDT

A soccer fan, face painted with the colors of Greece's national flag, watches another having his face painted with the german national flag colors before the Euro 2012 soccer championship quarterfinal match between Germany and Greece in Gdansk, Poland, Friday, June 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

GDANSK, Poland (AP) — Now for the really important business between Greece and Germany: Soccer.

On Friday, thousands of fans from the two nations at opposite ends of the eurozone financial crisis are converging on neutral Polish turf for a European Championship quarterfinal match.

They seek respect for their country after its humiliating economic collapse — and the German government's role in imposing strict austerity measures as a condition of Greece getting €240 billion ($300 billion) in bailout pledges.

"It's not good that sports and politics are together, but today we have no other choice," Greece fan Michalis Kalotrapesis said, wearing a white national team shirt and tracksuit top. "We are playing for our country and for our image in Europe and all over the world."

Kalotrapesis, and three Greek friends who now live in Germany have driven through the night to support their native nation here.

Their pride in performing what they see as a patriotic duty fits into Greece's favored national narrative: In soccer as in finance, Germany is the traditional power and Greece the spirited underdog.

"We are a little bit crazy, but it's the Greek mentality," said Nikos Barzas, pointing out the bloodshot eyes of the group's designated driver, Georgios Kotiniotis.

They left Gifhorn, near Wolfsburg, at midnight with 750 kilometers (about 465 miles) of road ahead of them. In a city center cafe, the first coffees of the day were helping them bridge the 10 hours to kickoff.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's journey to Gdansk will surely be more comfortable. Merkel will attend the match after morning economic meetings in Italy that were brought forward to help fulfill her role as the supposed lucky charm of the national team.

Barzas is glad she is coming — to further spur the team and 5,000 Greece fans expected to attend the match.

"(The players will) fight a little bit more because (they want) to beat Angela Merkel. (It would be) a little bit of a small kick in Germany's (backside)," he said.

About 15,000 Germans were expected to go to the match, according to the Football Supporters Europe group. Many of the Germans were arriving at Gdansk's main train station, with scalpers leading those without tickets to a nearby shopping center. The asking price was €200 (about $250) for a ticket with a face value of €75 ($95). There didn't appear to be any Greek fans in the market for them. Ticket sellers far outnumbered buyers also on the main tourist street, Dluga, where cafes were occupied by either camp of genial beer-drinking fans.

Confident German fans could plan ahead of Euro 2012 for a likely quarterfinal in Gdansk. Fans from the Greek Diaspora knew only last Saturday where to head after an upset win over Russia.

"I was actually happy for them (the Greeks) that they finally had something to celebrate," said Stefan Leidig, a Germany fan from Koblenz. "Besides, I hope that they will manage to get out of the crisis at one point."

Two days after being sworn into office, the prime minister of Greece's new conservative-led coalition is staying at home to work.

Antonis Samaras, a Harvard-educated former finance minister, is better employed stabilizing the country after a tense election last weekend than cheerleading at a soccer match, fan Thomas Nikolopulos said.

"I'm glad they are at home," said Nikolopulos, who arrived with his son Daniel in Gdansk on a Friday morning flight from London.

Before Samaras met with lawmakers in Athens on Friday afternoon, he could read headlines fueling national wishes to repel German policy on the field: "Bankrupt Them!" read Greek paper SportDay, as Derby News repeated the Spartan motto "Come and Get it."

In Germany, the best-selling daily Bild led with: "Bye bye Greece; we can't rescue you today."

Nikolopulos, who is originally from Athens, said the feeling back home is that "Germany has put them in the corner" over the euro currency crisis.

"This is Greece's opportunity to stand up and try to go back to being historical wonders," he said, with a blue-and-white striped national flag draped across his shoulders.

Greece fans takes faith in their team's surprise run to be Euro 2004 champion, founded on the same solid defense and dogged resistance shown by the current team in Poland.

For three-time European champion Germany, the match seems more routine — aiming for its fourth straight semifinal at each World Cup and Euro since Greece's golden year.

"For me, it's a normal football match," said German fan Klaus Lehmkuhl, a technical consultant from Muenster. "I don't think the politics is important for the German team. They are football players, not politicians."

Still, some off-field tensions are expected when the German national anthem is played minutes before the match begins.

"We will respect it. But the (hardcore fans) from Greece, I don't think they will," Barzas said.

And if images of Merkel sitting in the VIP seats are shown on the stadium giant screens?

"There will be massive boos. I can't see there not being some," said Yiannis Televantibes, a real estate agent from London. "But there's no problem between the fans."

In Berlin, a German deputy government spokesman was peppered with questions about the match and asked whether, in view of the eurozone crisis, Merkel would feel the need to tone down any goal celebrations.

"It's hard to assess that in advance," Georg Streiter said. "I think it depends a bit on how the game goes, but I think you will see that she is glad if there's a goal on the right side."

Streiter also shrugged off a question as to whether Merkel would consider herself partly responsible if she doesn't bring luck to the team and German loses.

"I think you would be loading up the chancellor, who already has plenty of packages to carry, with an unjustified package," he said. "She's a spectator."

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Associated Press writers David Rising in Berlin, and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.